Welcome to the Hotel California

Just 35 miles north of Cabo San Lucas

on the new 4 land highway is

Todos Santos, a lovely little

town with quaint brick buildings

and 

right in the middle of it is

HOTEL CALIFORNIA.

Of course it isn't the origin

of the song but they have played

on the song's popularity and

always play the Eagle's music while you

are there.

I chose to go there for my birthday lunch.

They have beautiful outdoor seating on a raised

patio and that is where we got to sit.

The first week we spent with our

children and grandchildren.  

Our second week the children

all went home and we were joined

by 6 friends.

We were there with our dear friends

the Cardons, 

Sam and Tammy

(he is a musician and composer)

and two artists and their wives

James and Carole Christensen

and Gary and Judy Smith

who couldn't have been more

delightful.

(Click on their names to learn more about their

incredible talents.)

We started with an amazing appetizer

of nachos

that had us swooning.

We have been several times before

and like to take new visitors to Cabo

here.  This time I went out on a limb and

ordered a pesto, pear and gorgonzola pizza.

Sorry this is the best picture you get!

This was gobbled down before

we even thought to take a picture.

I have never had anything like it before

and everyone said it was the best

thing we ate.  

Everyone in the group was into sharing food

so we always had lots of culinary treats.

They have fabulous wood doors leading

into the hotel, restaurant and

emporium.

This is the funky and colorful

lobby.

I love the chandelier.

You walk through the open kitchen

area to get to the seating so we had

an opportunity to watch the cooks

and see a few items that tempted us.

After our wonderful lunch

we all visited the emporium 

to buy hats and t shirts.  They have

a lot of exotic jewelry and clothing

and fun items to buy but we

stuck with hats and shirts.

Now that the road is a little better it is 

a fun drive and we all said we would

go back again just to have the

pesto and pear pizza.

We loved our nachos there so

much that we came home and made

some for lunch another day with some

pre-marinated Arrechera beef that

you can buy there in Costco and

fabulous Chihuahua cheese.  You

could make yours with carne asada and

monterey jack. There is nothing quite

like Chihuahua cheese.  It melts so

well and stays melted a long time.

  

Be sure to layer a single layer of chips

with a generous amount of cheese

then another single layer of chips

and more cheese.

Top it with the meat if you are

using meat.  At The Hotel California

they topped it with beans and slices

of jalapenos.  Any toppings you like are great.

Pop it in the microwave for

a little more than a minute until

both layers of cheese have melted.

We topped it with homemade

pico de gallo and homemade guacamole

Then we enjoyed the

Arrechera Nachos poolside.

I will be posting with

Oh The Places I've Been